All in the Family: The Lyons family sends three into college basketball

NEWPORT NEWS — First there was Tish, the slow starter even if she’d never admit it. Then Mike Jr., who became better than anyone could have expected. And, finally, Trevor, who somehow met the expectations that had been set.

On Nov. 14, when Trevor signed to play for the Air Force Academy, the Lyons offspring were officially 3-for-3 with competing in NCAA Division I basketball and earning a free college education. Tish was a three-year starter at Old Dominion. Mike Jr. is now a senior guard at Air Force, where he is the Falcons’ leading scorer.

“It’s a good feeling,” Mike Sr. said. “I remember the days of running from this practice to that practice to a game, I mean, consecutively. I look back on it now and I don’t know how we did it. It’s definitely a blessing.”

It’s not unprecedented. There are the Zeller brothers — Luke (Notre Dame), Tyler (North Carolina) and Cody (Indiana). And the Plumlee brothers — Miles, Mason and Marshall, each with Duke.

Locally, the Brown family sent three children to college, though not all in the same sport. Morocco played football at N.C. State. Milan and Marseilles earned basketball scholarships to Howard and Richmond (later Hampton University), respectively.

Though Mike Sr. was a football player at St. Paul’s College, his and Reba’s kids grew up hooked on hoops. Tish got started later than most — her father signed her up for rec league when she was 9 and the family was living in Florida.

Truth be told, she took to it like a fish in sand.

“I remember telling Mike she needed to find another sport, because basketball wasn’t it,” Reba said. “But she was always one who would try to prove you wrong. She was adamant that she was good.”

Tall and athletic, she eventually became good — very good, actually. In her four seasons with Woodside, she scored a school-record 1,771 points. She was the Daily Press Girls Player of the Year in 2003.

At Old Dominion, she scored 934 points as a three-year starter.

At 6-foot-5, Mike Jr. always had a combination of height and skills. After making All-Peninsula District as a junior, he transferred to Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock. Offers from mid-major programs came in, and he found a home in Colorado Springs.

“Basketball was my hobby as a kid,” he said. “I just did it ‘just because’ when I was younger, but when I hit eighth grade, that’s when I figured I’d like to make a career out of it. That’s when I really got serious about it. That was my motivation, trying to get a scholarship to play basketball.”

Ten games into his senior year, Lyons is the Falcons’ leading scorer (and No. 12 nationally) at 20.5 points a game. He has 1,202 points in his career, 12th on the school’s all-time list. At his current pace, he’ll likely end up in the top three.

As the third in line, Trevor always faced high expectations. Not only that, he was a member of possibly the best class of talent in Peninsula District history — Anthony Barber, Troy Williams, Rodney Bullock, etc.

In his first two seasons, he averaged 5.5 points a game. But as a junior, he nearly tripled that to 15.0 ppg. The Air Force Academy offered over the summer, and he accepted.

Imagine the feeling of satisfaction in making the Lyons family 3-for-3.

“Seeing them going to college to play basketball made me want to do it even more,” Trevor said. “It was a little bit of pressure, because I was expected to get good because of what they had done. There were a lot of expectations there.”

Trevor is averaging 18.2 ppg this season and has 737 points in his career.

“Mike has worked himself into a great player,” she said. “He might not have been an all-star on his team, but he’s worked really hard to get there. Trevor started out really, really fast and very aggressive, and he’s settled into his game.

“My parents haven’t had to pay for college for any of us. Just to see that kind of talent that has grown in our family, it’s pretty rare to have something like that.”

Each has a next chapter upcoming. Tish, who graduated from ODU in 2007, is in her third year at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. Now 27, she plans to get her degree in May 2014. After that, there are lots of possibilities. At the moment, she’s leaning toward orthopedic surgery.